'Very unlikely' Bayrou swayed any MPs in final speech before confidence vote

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00:00But first, and all eyes are on the French Assemblée Nationale, as Prime Minister François

00:06Beirut, the country's fourth leader in less than two years, faces a crucial confidence

00:10vote that he's expected to lose.

00:13It could plunge France, the Eurozone's second largest economy, into deeper political and

00:18economic turmoil.

00:19The timing could not be worse.

00:21As Europe grapples with Russia's war and Ukraine, a rising China, not to mention growing trade

00:27tensions with the US.

00:28France has not seen this level of political instability since the Fourth Republic in 1950s

00:34when it had just five Prime Ministers in two years.

00:38Let's cross now to France 24's Clovis Casali at the Assemblée Nationale.

00:42Clovis, we've just heard there from the Prime Minister.

00:46Has he managed to convince anybody to back him?

00:52We don't know yet because the vote of confidence will be taking place later, but it seems indeed

00:57very unlikely.

00:59François Beirut, in a battle, Prime Minister, who opened his speech with these words, this

01:03is a moment of truth.

01:05He also said that, yes, you might lead to the collapse of this government, but it won't erase

01:11the truth.

01:12And for the French Prime Minister, the truth is that France is in huge debt.

01:17debt, that France is not paying back its debt, but only paying back the interest on the debt.

01:23And we'll be doing so for years and years if we don't reduce the deficits, if the government

01:29doesn't hugely reduce deficits, reduce spendings and so on.

01:34And for the French Prime Minister, François Beirut, it's also something you owe to the French

01:39use for their future.

01:42And regarding taxing more the rich parts of society here in France, well, François Beirut

01:48said that if you raise taxes, if you put huge taxes on the wealthiest parts of French society,

01:56well, it will only lead to them leaving France, not to the other side of the world, but even

02:01to other parts of Europe.

02:03And that would go also for French companies if there were higher taxes.

02:08As you can expect, that's not the point of view of many parties here at the National

02:13Assembly.

02:14So François Beirut tried to convince the opposition for the past 45 minutes of his speech, but

02:21if you ask me, it's going to be very difficult indeed.

02:23And it's difficult to say who the next Prime Minister could be, but are there any names being

02:29mentioned?

02:33Well, to summarize the situation, President Macron has got his back against the wall.

02:38He needs to find someone who will get some kind of majority in the National Assembly, someone

02:44who will get the backing of the ruling centrist bloc, but also of the centre-right parties,

02:49or at least some of those, especially from Les Républicains, the right-wing party, and

02:54from parts of the left.

02:56We know the radical left, François Beirut, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, won't take part in this.

03:00Neither will the French far-right of Marine Le Pen.

03:04So now the socialists are saying, find someone in our ranks, and we will be able to get some

03:10kind of compromise.

03:11And Boris Vallaud, the leader of the Socialist Party at the National Assembly here, took to

03:17the stage here at the National Assembly right after François Beirut.

03:21And he was extremely harsh, not just towards François Beirut, but also towards Emmanuel

03:27Macron.

03:28He said, regarding François Beirut, the French prime minister, you say you are showing bravery.

03:32You are not.

03:33This is weak, what you are doing.

03:35You are just facing difficulties, huge difficulties.

03:38We do acknowledge that that is a problem.

03:40But in front, instead of facing them, you have just, in a way, created a political suicide.

03:46You have decided to leave because you know you won't get a majority in this vote of confidence.

03:51The socialists also saying that there's one man responsible for this situation, and that's

03:56President Macron, responsible for increasing hugely the debt of France and also for creating

04:03this political instability here in France.

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